Christchurch Earthquake Bulletin #2

Written By: - Date published: 12:10 pm, March 11th, 2011 - 14 comments
Categories: labour - Tags:

Apparently Christchurch Labour MPs will be putting out their bulletin daily.

Here’s the second update from Clayton Cosgrove (Waimakariri), Ruth Dyson (Port Hills), Lianne Dalziel (Christchurch East) and Brendon Burns (Christchurch Central).  In future you can get to them here.

CLAYTON COSGROVE:

This morning Christchurch MPs attended a briefing with Civil Defence coordinator Steve Brazier. The issues we raised on behalf of constituents included the availability of portaloos and the difficulty many are still facing accessing hot meals. We also raised the issue of instructions for using chemical toilets, and other welfare issues.

RUTH DYSON:

My focus is still getting people the information they need to access core services. Following the distribution of factsheets yesterday I have people coming into my office requesting information which is a good sign. We are making progress with local businesses in Lyttleton and Woolston. Getting information particularly to small businesses has been a priority. A lot of these businesses are offering information to others but don’t know what services they themselves can access. In one case some money deposited into a local dairy owner’s bank account meant he could stay open and serve the community. These people are keeping families going, but they need support too.

Today I will focus again on access to local business premises. I have a number of people calling individually and what we need is a holistic plan of action. These business owners are facing two weeks closed now. I am working with the Historic Places Trusts engineering and building recovery teams and the Christchurch City Council to put in place a central business district plan for Lyttleton to get business up and running. We have a tentative meeting next Tuesday morning and hope to have a timetable available to the public shortly after that.

LIANNE DALZIEL:

My Electorate Office has been yellow stickered and we are operating out of a ‘virtual / mobile office’ until we receive the structural engineers report. Yesterday was spent on the road, visiting welfare centres and recovery assistance centres like the Parklands Baptist Church to ensure people have adequate access to services. We were able to chat to a number of people in the Parklands area. There is still a lot of need in the electorate at large. We went to Travis Country and had a fabulous catch up with an elderly woman who reflected on her experience of wartime conditions. She was full of hope and optimism and had a muck-in attitude towards the less glamorous toilet facilities — with the attitude that, ‘we lived through it then and we can do it again.’

A key issue is access to portaloos. We heard that National MPs were saying Travis didn’t have enough and that Aranui had 50, so we went round to Hampshire St to see if we could redistribute some of these. It seems the Prime Minister’s recent visit to Hampshire Street didn’t tell the true story about the situation in Aranui. We found 10 portaloos centrally but the side streets were neglected with fewer than 10 across Aranui overall. Many of the local schools are ready to reopen, but are stalled by access to portaloos. It seems there was a communication breakdown between the Ministry of Education and Civil Defence which resulted in the Ministry taking responsibility for sourcing portaloos for schools. We need to get children, where possible, back into routine and the heart of that is getting them back to school. http://www.adoptachristchurchfamily.com is still operating for those who would like to directly help families in need. Today we are heading to Dallington.

BRENDON BURNS:

Yesterday’s delivery of portaloos that I have sourced from a friend in Marlborough was well received by the local community in Avonside. My friend rounded them up from Marlborough vineyards.  Some of the Avonside residents told me that portaloos they had been using hadn’t been properly serviced since after the first quake last September, so they were really pleased to see new cleansed ones in top working order.

Today we have had a Civil Defence brief and I am heading out to Ngā Hau e Whā Marae for a refugee meeting to check that local refugees have the services they need. Between 4-5:30pm today I will be having another Caravan meeting on the corner of Retreat Road and Patten St, Avonside.

14 comments on “Christchurch Earthquake Bulletin #2 ”

  • Comments are now closed

  1. Fisiani 1
    11 March 2011 at 1:04 pm

    The Standard is NOT a mouthpiece for the Labour Party…… yeah right

    [lprent: Correct. Looks like you’ve managed to read the about. Congratulations – you have proved that you can actually read (there has been some concern about that).

    …but it’d be fair to say that all of us share a commitment to the values and principles that underpin the broad labour movement…

    And part of that movement is the Labour party, along with unions, most greenies, and lefties in most guises. One of us saw this bulletin from some Christchurch MP’s of the broad labour movement and decided that it’d be a good idea to give it a higher public profile. Why? Because we’re good at doing that and in our various opinions, MP’s are not. At least that is what came through when it was discussed in the e-mails amongst a number of authors when this was raised.

    We’d happily publish (and have already done so) similar stuff from the unions, greens, progressives, even the anarchists, and just individuals.

    Of course you don’t see that. But generally the moderators and most of the commentators have noticed that you don’t actually appear to think much. In fact your focus appears to be so narrow that it usually seems to consist of National good, everyone else Evil…. That says a lot about your political abilities. ]

    • DS 1.1
      11 March 2011 at 1:10 pm

      Who cares who writes it? It’s good information about what’s going on in my area and if it wasn’t up on The Standard I’d have missed it.

    • Kaplan 1.2
      11 March 2011 at 1:34 pm

      Fisiani.
      Myself, my family, my neighbours are all in the middle of this right now. We are living in a house which requires at the very least significant repairs, at worst our land which is damaged may be one of the ones that Key so kindly blurted out may mean we have to move. We have power and water but no sewage as the pipe is now broken. We haven’t had delivery of our chemical toilet yet.
      I was in the CBD during the earthquake on the top floor of a building, I thought I was going to die. Some of our staff were injured, thankfully nothing major, when we exited the building we were greeted with sights that I would not wish on any human being.

      Our business has had to relocate as the building we were in was badly damaged and is now red stickered, despite the damage at my house I worked the first week round the clock to get our business systems back up and operational so we could continue to operate and pay our staff’s salaries in the short term.

      I’m not special, many others have done far far more than that.

      The reason I’m saying all this is nothing to do with recognition but as a precursor to this.

      You are a complete and utter arsehole.

      Above are hard working MP’s who are trying to help people like my family, our business and my neighbours. You are content to sit back and take the opportunity to make what you think is political gain from this situation by ridiculing those that help.

      I sincerely hope that you have a long hard think about your attitude and offer up an apology to all the people that you have offended with your bullshit comment above. I may even think better of you if you do.

  2. Janice 2
    11 March 2011 at 1:19 pm

    Hey Fis are the National MPs posting helpful bulletins, or are they just hoping to get a photo op with thier boss and Willie?

    • marco 2.1
      11 March 2011 at 1:41 pm

      Nicky Wagner definately is, for some reason I’ve ended up on her email distribution list, not sure where else she posts the updates other than her website or her email list, but they are very useful. http://www.nickywagner.co.nz/index.php?/archives/231-Nicky-Wagner-National-MP-Earthquake-Update-4.html

      The Labour MPs are all doing a great job. I’d also like to mention that Kennedy Graham from the Greens is doing great work on the ground.

      • lprent 2.1.1
        11 March 2011 at 2:30 pm

        …Kennedy Graham from the Greens is doing great work on the ground.

        He should write it up and shove it on the web somewhere. Then we can post it up for recognition and link it

        • marco 2.1.1.1
          11 March 2011 at 2:45 pm

          Kennedy seems content to keep slogging away without recognition. He really is making a difference to many vulnerable people in the Eastern Suburbs. It would be good for him to post it, however he seems to be doing this for the people and not for the recognition, which is very admirable.

      • ianmac 2.1.2
        11 March 2011 at 2:39 pm

        Good to see Nicky Wagner has published good stuff.
        But have a sinking feeling about their “First Election Billboard in Christchurch.”
        “Neighbourhood Safer. Tougher Bail, Sentencing and Parole Laws.”
        http://www.flickr.com/photos/nznationalparty/3308153516/in/set-72157604007410177/

        • mickysavage 2.1.2.1
          11 March 2011 at 2:45 pm

          Feck

          It is tough enough now and way tougher than it used to be.

          Note this will not be included in National’s electoral expenses unless it remains up during the three month period before election day.

          CT are on the case …

  3. Fisiani 3
    11 March 2011 at 4:50 pm

    From another newsletter to give a broader perspective in a spirit of forgiveness to the likes of Kaplan

    REBUILDING CHRISTCHURCH

    [lprent: cut’n’paste is not allowed in comments. Comments are for your opinions, links to outside material, and put in limited quotes to illustrate why people should click though. And before we get any bullshit, this has been the policy forever for all comments.

    The equivalent rules apply to posts. If we reprint material from outside, our material has to be separated by font from the source, a link to the original material should be provided if there is one, and it will be published under The Standard author which is for such notices and republications to show that it dies not come from one of our authors. ]

    • Colonial Viper 3.1
      11 March 2011 at 5:07 pm

      Cutting red tape = pressuring the coroner to release deceased names faster

      He also didn’t mention in his list
      • Issuing random unofficial numbers and declaring suburbs lost with impunity.

    • Deadly_NZ 3.2
      11 March 2011 at 9:29 pm

      Now thats Ugly .. follow Fisi’s link and what is the first thing you see .. Shonkey glowering malevolently at you. A scary sight …I did not dare hit play. Not to sure how much more my bullshit meter can take.

  4. Rex Widerstrom 4
    11 March 2011 at 9:12 pm

    Tsunami has just hit Japan following a major 8.9 offshore quake.

    Video here.

    Now does someone want to reassure me again that none of this is connected? Please??

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